WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:13.600 Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to see is true. 00:13.600 --> 00:32.120 The names have been changed to protect the innocent. 00:32.120 --> 00:36.840 This is the city. 00:36.840 --> 00:39.160 Los Angeles, California. 00:39.160 --> 00:40.160 I work here. 00:40.160 --> 00:41.160 I'm a cop. 00:41.160 --> 00:47.600 It was Wednesday, September 2nd. 00:47.600 --> 00:48.600 It was cloudy in Los Angeles. 00:48.600 --> 00:51.120 We were working the day watch on a homicide division. 00:51.120 --> 00:52.120 My partner's Frank Smith. 00:52.120 --> 00:54.040 The boss is Captain Warman. 00:54.040 --> 00:55.040 My name's Friday. 00:55.040 --> 00:58.760 A man had jumped from a downtown ten-story building. 00:58.760 --> 01:01.680 We checked what evidence we had, but we were still unable to get an identification. 01:01.680 --> 01:08.840 Before we could proceed with the investigation, we had to know who he was and why he jumped. 01:08.840 --> 01:18.200 Teetering through the building, we��'re doing what we intend to do. 01:18.200 --> 01:28.640 Vitamin D, and via conferences, we want you to note your…… 01:28.640 --> 01:29.640 Thanks. 01:29.640 --> 01:31.840 He was mean to us too. 01:31.840 --> 01:28.840 Me, pudgy, muscular, … 01:28.840 --> 01:32.840 …sh predator,.. 01:32.840 --> 01:36.840 … …nš mention this. 01:12.840 --> 01:36.840 I think he girly. 01:36.740 --> 01:37.840 Yea? 01:37.840 --> 01:39.840 Yeah, ambitious boy, smart. 01:39.840 --> 01:42.840 He's a part-time accountant, goes to law school at night down in Loyola. 01:42.840 --> 01:43.840 Real nice fella. 01:43.840 --> 01:44.840 That's good. When are they getting married? 01:44.840 --> 01:45.840 Week from Saturday. 01:45.840 --> 01:48.840 My wife finally got her way. It's going to be a big church thing. 01:48.840 --> 01:50.840 Sure glad it doesn't happen often. 01:50.840 --> 01:52.840 Well, you should have had all boys got you. 01:52.840 --> 01:54.840 You're going to give your daughter away, I suppose. 01:54.840 --> 01:57.840 Yeah. Say, that reminds me, I've got to be sure and send my suit to the cleaners. 01:57.840 --> 01:58.840 Get a good press job on it. 01:59.840 --> 02:00.840 Sure is funny. 02:00.840 --> 02:01.840 What is? 02:01.840 --> 02:04.840 Seems the wife's been afraid for years we'd never get Alice married off. 02:04.840 --> 02:06.840 Now it's finally in the works, the wife's still unhappy. 02:06.840 --> 02:07.840 Oh, how's that? 02:07.840 --> 02:10.840 Oh, she goes moping around the house, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, 02:10.840 --> 02:13.840 keeps muttering something about losing a little girl or little girls leaving her. 02:13.840 --> 02:14.840 I don't know. 02:14.840 --> 02:15.840 How old's your daughter, Alice? 02:15.840 --> 02:16.840 Thirty-two. 02:18.840 --> 02:20.840 Well, guess I'd better get started on this. 02:21.840 --> 02:22.840 Hi. 02:22.840 --> 02:23.840 Frank, what's going? 02:23.840 --> 02:24.840 How'd you do on that jumper? 02:24.840 --> 02:25.840 Nothing. 02:25.840 --> 02:26.840 No make on the prints, huh? 02:26.840 --> 02:28.840 No, a couple of laundry marks on his clothes. We're checking them out. 02:28.840 --> 02:30.840 Yeah. Anything else doing? 02:30.840 --> 02:31.840 No. 02:31.840 --> 02:34.840 Say, they just posted the list inside, the annual physical exams. 02:34.840 --> 02:35.840 On my honor? 02:35.840 --> 02:36.840 Sure, both of us. 02:36.840 --> 02:38.840 We're supposed to report to room 19 at the academy Monday, ten o'clock. 02:38.840 --> 02:39.840 Who's doing the examinations? 02:39.840 --> 02:40.840 Dr. Severin. 02:40.840 --> 02:41.840 Oh. 02:42.840 --> 02:43.840 What's the matter? 02:43.840 --> 02:45.840 Well, he's the one that checked me over last year. 02:45.840 --> 02:46.840 Told me to take off some weight. 02:46.840 --> 02:48.840 I haven't lost an ounce. 02:48.840 --> 02:49.840 Well, I thought you were on a diet. 02:49.840 --> 02:50.840 I am, Joe. 02:50.840 --> 02:52.840 Even got one of those little calorie gizmos, you know, 02:52.840 --> 02:53.840 tells you how many calories and everything? 02:53.840 --> 02:54.840 Yeah, I heard of them. 02:54.840 --> 02:56.840 Doesn't do any good. I'm still gaining. 02:56.840 --> 02:59.840 Well, it seems to me if you keep caught, you should lose some weight. 02:59.840 --> 03:00.840 You know me in addition, Joe. 03:00.840 --> 03:01.840 How about some lunch, huh? 03:02.840 --> 03:03.840 Hot shot. 03:03.840 --> 03:10.840 Well, here's one to roll on. I'll meet you out there. 03:10.840 --> 03:11.840 What is it? 03:11.840 --> 03:12.840 Stage Hotel, room 12. 03:12.840 --> 03:13.840 Yeah. 03:13.840 --> 03:14.840 Looks like murder. 03:14.840 --> 03:23.840 1155 A.M. We located the stage hotel on West Howard Street, 03:23.840 --> 03:25.840 half a dozen blocks from the city hall. 03:25.840 --> 03:27.840 It was in the heart of the Skid Row district, 03:27.840 --> 03:29.840 the white stucco building three stories. 03:29.840 --> 03:31.840 We identified ourselves to the manager of the hotel, 03:31.840 --> 03:33.840 Mrs. Lorraine Washburn. 03:33.840 --> 03:36.840 She led the way up a flight of stairs to the second floor. 03:36.840 --> 03:41.840 The hallway was dingy. 03:41.840 --> 03:43.840 Down at the end on the left was room 12. 03:43.840 --> 03:44.840 We went in. 03:44.840 --> 03:48.840 The room was crowded with furniture, bric-a-brac, odds and ends. 03:48.840 --> 03:51.840 The walls were covered with pictures of old-time vaudeville stars, 03:51.840 --> 03:53.840 autographed programs, and theatrical posters. 03:53.840 --> 03:56.840 In the center of the room was an open steamer trunk full of costumes 03:56.840 --> 03:58.840 and bundles of news clippings. 03:58.840 --> 04:08.840 It looked like it had been ransacked. 04:08.840 --> 04:10.840 Tied to a chair was the body of a woman. 04:10.840 --> 04:13.840 She looked to be about 30 years of age, red hair. 04:13.840 --> 04:21.840 She'd been badly beaten about the face and head. 04:21.840 --> 04:25.840 Near the body was an empty wine bottle, 04:25.840 --> 04:29.840 a pair of broken glasses, 04:29.840 --> 04:34.840 and a length of steel pipe about ten inches long with her bloodstains on it. 04:34.840 --> 04:43.840 Frank put in a call to the office and then to the crime lab. 04:43.840 --> 04:47.840 The landlady identified the victim as Thelma Porter. 04:47.840 --> 04:49.840 We asked the landlady what time she discovered the body. 04:49.840 --> 04:53.840 About 11.40 this morning, just where it is now, Sergeant. 04:53.840 --> 04:54.840 Nothing's been touched. 04:54.840 --> 04:56.840 I haven't mentioned it to anyone in the hotel. 04:56.840 --> 04:58.840 Poor thing. 04:58.840 --> 05:00.840 How long have the victim been staying here at the hotel, Miss Washburn? 05:00.840 --> 05:02.840 Thelma? Oh, at least two years. 05:02.840 --> 05:04.840 Maybe a little more than that. 05:04.840 --> 05:07.840 Isn't it a terrible thing? It just doesn't make sense. 05:07.840 --> 05:08.840 How do you mean, ma'am? 05:08.840 --> 05:10.840 Thelma didn't have any money. 05:10.840 --> 05:13.840 She was just like most of the people I have here, stage folks. 05:13.840 --> 05:14.840 They're all older people. 05:14.840 --> 05:18.840 Most of them don't work too often, live from hand to mouth most of the time. 05:18.840 --> 05:19.840 I see. 05:19.840 --> 05:21.840 Did Thelma Porter live in this room here alone? 05:21.840 --> 05:22.840 Yes, that's right. 05:22.840 --> 05:23.840 This is a single. 05:23.840 --> 05:24.840 Thelma used to be married. 05:24.840 --> 05:27.840 Her husband died in the East about ten years ago, I think. 05:27.840 --> 05:30.840 Name was Carl. Thelma and Carl. 05:30.840 --> 05:33.840 There used to be an old vaudeville team, the two of them. 05:33.840 --> 05:35.840 Rose and Bernard. 05:35.840 --> 05:37.840 Did the Porter woman have many friends here at the hotel, ma'am? 05:37.840 --> 05:39.840 Oh, yes. She knew everybody. 05:39.840 --> 05:41.840 All my people are friendly with each other. 05:41.840 --> 05:43.840 Most of them are permanents. 05:43.840 --> 05:45.840 I guess we'll have to tell all of them about this. 05:45.840 --> 05:47.840 Yes, ma'am. I'm afraid so. 05:47.840 --> 05:49.840 Now, Miss Washburn, when was the last time you saw Mrs. Porter? 05:49.840 --> 05:50.840 I mean, before this morning, of course. 05:50.840 --> 05:52.840 Just after midnight last night. 05:52.840 --> 05:55.840 I was sitting down in the lobby reading, just about to go to bed. 05:55.840 --> 05:57.840 Thelma came in with George Steel. 05:57.840 --> 05:59.840 He's a friend of Thelma's, lives here in the hotel. 05:59.840 --> 06:03.840 Thelma said good night and came upstairs here to her room. 06:03.840 --> 06:06.840 George and I sat a bit and talked, maybe ten, fifteen minutes. 06:06.840 --> 06:09.840 Then this morning I was taking the fresh lemon around to the rooms. 06:09.840 --> 06:12.840 Knocked on Thelma's door, but she didn't answer. 06:12.840 --> 06:15.840 Finally opened up with the pass key. There it was. 06:15.840 --> 06:17.840 Now, this George Steel that Mrs. Porter came in with, 06:17.840 --> 06:19.840 had she been out on a date with him, would you know? 06:19.840 --> 06:20.840 No, not exactly. 06:20.840 --> 06:23.840 You see, Thelma spent quite a bit of time at a bar down the street. 06:23.840 --> 06:27.840 Jack Hanley's place. She was there five, six nights every week. 06:27.840 --> 06:28.840 I see. 06:28.840 --> 06:31.840 George dropped in for a bottle of beer, had one with Thelma, I guess. 06:31.840 --> 06:33.840 Then the two of them came back to the hotel together. 06:33.840 --> 06:35.840 Did she have any visitors last night, do you know? 06:35.840 --> 06:36.840 No, sir, I don't. 06:36.840 --> 06:38.840 Does she have any enemies that you might know of? 06:38.840 --> 06:40.840 Maybe somebody she didn't get along with? 06:40.840 --> 06:41.840 No, nobody I know. 06:41.840 --> 06:43.840 And you can't think of a reason why anybody would want to kill her. 06:43.840 --> 06:45.840 I don't know. 06:45.840 --> 06:48.840 Maybe somebody thought she had money. She didn't. 06:48.840 --> 06:50.840 Not even enough to bury her. 06:50.840 --> 06:53.840 I don't know what's going to happen. 06:53.840 --> 06:54.840 Hi, Joe. 06:54.840 --> 06:55.840 Hi, Don. 06:55.840 --> 06:56.840 Hi. 06:56.840 --> 06:58.840 This is Mrs. Washburn, the manager. 06:58.840 --> 06:59.840 How do you do, Mrs. Washburn? 06:59.840 --> 07:00.840 How do you do? 07:00.840 --> 07:01.840 This is it. 07:07.840 --> 07:08.840 All right, we have the crew on the way over? 07:08.840 --> 07:09.840 Yeah, they'll be here in a minute. 07:09.840 --> 07:11.840 Will you be needing me anymore, Sergeant? Can I go now? 07:11.840 --> 07:14.840 We've got a few more questions we'd like to ask you, ma'am, if you don't mind. 07:14.840 --> 07:17.840 It's quite a shock, you know. Terrible thing to have happen. 07:17.840 --> 07:18.840 Yes, ma'am. 07:18.840 --> 07:21.840 Such a terrible thing. All mixed up. 07:21.840 --> 07:22.840 I'm going to have to explain. 07:22.840 --> 07:23.840 What's that, ma'am? 07:23.840 --> 07:26.840 Tell me. She was three weeks behind in her rent. 07:26.840 --> 07:28.840 I carried her on the books. 07:28.840 --> 07:30.840 You all know the hotel's going to want the rent money. 07:30.840 --> 07:31.840 It's going to have to come from someplace. 07:31.840 --> 07:34.840 Well, how did Mrs. Porter live? Didn't she have any income at all? 07:34.840 --> 07:36.840 She worked occasionally. Odd jobs. 07:36.840 --> 07:38.840 Then she'd have the unemployment insurance. 07:38.840 --> 07:40.840 Even that ran out on her two or three weeks ago. 07:40.840 --> 07:41.840 I see. 07:41.840 --> 07:45.840 There's no reason in the world for it, Sergeant Killing, tell me. 07:45.840 --> 07:48.840 She wasn't too young or very pretty. 07:48.840 --> 07:50.840 She wasn't worth anything. 07:50.840 --> 07:53.840 She didn't even have a decent coat to go out in. 07:53.840 --> 07:54.840 Yes, ma'am. 07:54.840 --> 07:58.840 That trunk over there, full of papers. 07:58.840 --> 08:02.840 That's all she had. What sense does that make? 08:02.840 --> 08:04.840 I don't know, ma'am. We haven't started checking yet. 08:04.840 --> 08:07.840 Her clothes, a couple of scrapbooks. 08:07.840 --> 08:09.840 Nobody would kill her for that. 08:09.840 --> 08:11.840 Pile of old news clippings. 08:11.840 --> 08:13.840 I don't know. It's been done for last. 08:13.840 --> 08:21.840 I continue to interview the landlady, Mrs. Washburn. 08:21.840 --> 08:25.840 She told me that the victim had quite a few male acquaintances that she'd met at neighborhood bars. 08:25.840 --> 08:27.840 She gave me the names of all those she knew of. 08:27.840 --> 08:32.840 1245 p.m. Sergeant Jay Allen and the crew from the crime lab arrived. 08:32.840 --> 08:38.840 The body and the murder room were photographed from all angles. 08:38.840 --> 08:41.840 Dean Bergman processed everything in the room for latent fingerprints. 08:41.840 --> 08:44.840 The place was gone over thoroughly for further physical evidence. 08:44.840 --> 08:48.840 The only thing that didn't seem to belong in the room was the apparent murder weapon, 08:48.840 --> 08:53.840 a ten-inch length of steel pipe found beside the body. 08:53.840 --> 08:56.840 105 p.m. After we put in a call to the coroner's office, 08:56.840 --> 08:58.840 we started checking with the residents of the hotel. 08:58.840 --> 09:00.840 No one gave us any direct leads to the killing, 09:00.840 --> 09:04.840 but more than a half a dozen of them told us that Mrs. Porter had been in the habit of making vague remarks 09:04.840 --> 09:07.840 about what she kept in that steamer trunk in her room. 09:07.840 --> 09:09.840 She made a point of never opening the trunk for anyone, 09:09.840 --> 09:15.840 and she hinted constantly, even in public, that she kept something of value inside. 09:15.840 --> 09:19.840 445 p.m. We started checking out the list of the murdered woman's friends, 09:19.840 --> 09:21.840 which Mrs. Washburn and the tenants had given us. 09:21.840 --> 09:27.840 It went slow. We got little or nothing from the first dozen names on the list. 09:27.840 --> 09:29.840 950 p.m. We went back to the office. 09:29.840 --> 09:32.840 Well, we've had better days, that's for sure. 09:32.840 --> 09:34.840 The lousy started. Couldn't be going much slower. 09:34.840 --> 09:37.840 We must have logged 40 miles of legwork. Nothing to show for it. 09:37.840 --> 09:39.840 Yeah. Hi, guys. 09:39.840 --> 09:40.840 Hi, how'd you do? 09:40.840 --> 09:42.840 Not much. How about you and McCready? 09:42.840 --> 09:44.840 We checked out ten names on the list of the woman's friends. 09:44.840 --> 09:46.840 The only thing they could tell us we already knew, 09:46.840 --> 09:50.840 that business about the steamer trunk Mrs. Porter hinting around she had something valuable in it. 09:50.840 --> 09:51.840 Where does that leave us? 09:51.840 --> 09:52.840 We got a fair motive to go on. 09:52.840 --> 09:54.840 The crime lab called just before you came in. 09:54.840 --> 09:55.840 Did they get anything? 09:55.840 --> 09:56.840 No latent prints. 09:56.840 --> 09:57.840 They went over that steamer trunk, though, 09:57.840 --> 10:00.840 found a hundred shares of some kind of mining stock sold in the liner of the trunk. 10:00.840 --> 10:01.840 Worth anything? 10:01.840 --> 10:03.840 Not the paper it's printed on. 10:03.840 --> 10:06.840 Never was worth anything, according to the broker who checked it. 10:06.840 --> 10:08.840 We got the blow-ups. Want to take a look at them? 10:08.840 --> 10:10.840 Yeah, thanks. 10:13.840 --> 10:15.840 A wine bottle. 10:15.840 --> 10:17.840 It's a wine drinker. 10:17.840 --> 10:22.840 Over there, it looks like he stepped on her glasses and broke them. 10:22.840 --> 10:24.840 Sure brutal, isn't it? 10:31.840 --> 10:33.840 Sure proud of the trunk, didn't it? 10:33.840 --> 10:35.840 It sets up the motor pretty well. 10:35.840 --> 10:38.840 She didn't spend plenty of time at bars. She had a lot of men friends. 10:38.840 --> 10:41.840 We know she did a lot of talking about the nest egg she was supposed to have locked up in that trunk. 10:41.840 --> 10:44.840 So one of her boyfriends believed her, went up to have a look through the trunk, 10:44.840 --> 10:46.840 didn't know she was in the room, had to kill her. 10:46.840 --> 10:47.840 It's a good possibility. 10:47.840 --> 10:49.840 Oh, we got the word from the coroner's office, by the way. 10:49.840 --> 10:50.840 Yeah, what did they have to say? 10:50.840 --> 10:52.840 Cause of death was multiple skull fractures. 10:52.840 --> 10:54.840 They're sure they linked the pipe as a murder weapon. 10:54.840 --> 10:57.840 Mrs. Porter died about 4 a.m., they figure. 10:57.840 --> 10:59.840 Killer sure gave her a vicious beating. 10:59.840 --> 11:00.840 Looks like more legwork, huh? 11:00.840 --> 11:01.840 I wish it was an easier way. 11:01.840 --> 11:04.840 Every bar she drank at, everybody she talked to, we'll have to check them all. 11:04.840 --> 11:06.840 You know, there's just one thing that's got me stumped, Joe. 11:06.840 --> 11:07.840 Yeah, what's that? 11:07.840 --> 11:08.840 Tell Mrs. Porter. 11:08.840 --> 11:11.840 Don't you think she had an idea that mining stock was worthless? 11:11.840 --> 11:12.840 Well, I guess she did. 11:12.840 --> 11:13.840 Why'd she hang on to it? 11:13.840 --> 11:15.840 Why did she even keep the stock around? 11:15.840 --> 11:16.840 I don't know, Gotch. 11:16.840 --> 11:19.840 The only thing she had left were the scrapbooks, a couple of theater posters. 11:19.840 --> 11:20.840 Yeah. 11:20.840 --> 11:21.840 She knew they'd never pay off. 11:21.840 --> 11:35.840 10-15 p.m., along with Gotch and McCready, we went back to the West Howard Street neighborhood 11:35.840 --> 11:39.840 and started checking down the list of people known to the dead woman. 11:39.840 --> 11:44.840 One of them was a Miss Babs Sheldon, a singer in a small cabaret on the corner of West Howard and Pacheco. 11:44.840 --> 11:48.840 We went back to a small dressing room where we questioned the Sheldon girl. 11:48.840 --> 11:50.840 She said she'd known the victim for about five years. 11:50.840 --> 11:52.840 I kept telling somebody to get out of that hotel. 11:52.840 --> 11:55.840 Living with those has-beens wasn't any good for her. 11:55.840 --> 11:58.840 Do you know of any steady boyfriends she might have had recently, Miss Sheldon? 11:58.840 --> 12:00.840 No, not Palma. 12:00.840 --> 12:03.840 She couldn't get interested in any man after Carl died, her husband. 12:03.840 --> 12:05.840 That's what she told me anyway. 12:05.840 --> 12:08.840 There used to be a great vaudeville team, you know, she and her husband. 12:08.840 --> 12:09.840 Yes, ma'am, we know. 12:09.840 --> 12:10.840 Well, I was in Benard. 12:10.840 --> 12:11.840 That's the way they were built. 12:11.840 --> 12:12.840 You ever hear of them? 12:12.840 --> 12:14.840 Fine acrobatic routine. 12:14.840 --> 12:15.840 No, afraid not. 12:15.840 --> 12:18.840 Did Miss Porter ever mention anything to you about a steamer trunk that she kept in the room? 12:18.840 --> 12:19.840 Anything about what she kept in that trunk? 12:19.840 --> 12:21.840 No, not to me she didn't. 12:21.840 --> 12:24.840 It was kind of a standing gag with people who knew Palma. 12:24.840 --> 12:25.840 She was kind of funny about it. 12:25.840 --> 12:26.840 In what way? 12:26.840 --> 12:29.840 No, Palma was a great talker, you know. 12:29.840 --> 12:31.840 Oh, Miss Princess Palma. 12:31.840 --> 12:34.840 Palma told everybody about her business. 12:34.840 --> 12:35.840 Talked to Blue Street. 12:35.840 --> 12:36.840 Uh-huh. 12:36.840 --> 12:40.840 She'd talk about her life, her personal affairs, especially when she had a few drinks. 12:40.840 --> 12:44.840 But I don't think I ever heard her mention to anybody what she had in that trunk. 12:44.840 --> 12:47.840 She'd hint around about it, call her a gold mine. 12:47.840 --> 12:50.840 But she never once let anyone see what was in that trunk. 12:50.840 --> 12:52.840 Not once. 12:52.840 --> 12:54.840 I'll leave you one of our cards, Miss Sheldon. 12:54.840 --> 12:57.840 If you happen to hear anything else that might help us, we'd appreciate it if you'd give us a call. 12:57.840 --> 12:59.840 Such a terrible mess. 12:59.840 --> 13:01.840 I don't know why it had to happen now. 13:01.840 --> 13:03.840 Lord knows what I looked like at the funeral. 13:03.840 --> 13:04.840 Ma'am? 13:04.840 --> 13:06.840 I haven't got a decent bag dressed to my name. 13:06.840 --> 13:12.840 [♪ music playing in background throughout the video. 13:12.840 --> 13:16.840 1 a.m. We checked back into the office to a prearranged meeting set up with Gottsch and McCready. 13:16.840 --> 13:17.840 Hi. 13:17.840 --> 13:19.840 Gottsch? 13:19.840 --> 13:20.840 Anything? 13:20.840 --> 13:21.840 Pretty small. 13:21.840 --> 13:22.840 How about you? 13:22.840 --> 13:23.840 Might have something. Can't tell. 13:23.840 --> 13:24.840 Where's McCready? 13:24.840 --> 13:26.840 Down in the car pool. 13:26.840 --> 13:28.840 There's a bar down on Main Street, left hand side. 13:28.840 --> 13:29.840 Where? 13:29.840 --> 13:32.840 Porta Woman used to go there quite a bit, according to the bartender. 13:32.840 --> 13:33.840 Most of the regular customers know her. 13:33.840 --> 13:34.840 Uh-huh. 13:34.840 --> 13:38.840 The bartender told us he overheard a conversation in one of the booths four or five nights ago. 13:38.840 --> 13:39.840 Three winos. 13:39.840 --> 13:40.840 We got their names. 13:40.840 --> 13:41.840 What about them? 13:41.840 --> 13:43.840 The bartender says they were talking about Thelma Porta. 13:43.840 --> 13:44.840 Where? 13:44.840 --> 13:47.840 He says he heard one of the men say she keeps the trunk in her room. 13:47.840 --> 13:48.840 We can break it open. 13:48.840 --> 14:01.840 [♪ music playing in background throughout the video. 14:01.840 --> 14:03.840 Thursday, September 3rd, 8 a.m. 14:03.840 --> 14:10.840 We rounded up and took into custody the three men who'd been overheard while apparently planning a burglary of the murder victim's hotel room. 14:10.840 --> 14:17.840 Together with Sergeant Jack Dodge and Sergeant Jack McCready, Frank and I had little trouble locating the three men and bringing them in for questioning. 14:17.840 --> 14:22.840 They were fairly well known along Skid Row, and they immediately took the attitude that they had nothing to hide. 14:22.840 --> 14:23.840 We went along with them. 14:23.840 --> 14:27.840 We questioned them individually and together. 14:27.840 --> 14:30.840 Meantime, their rooms were being searched. No leads. 14:30.840 --> 14:33.840 Two of the men were brothers, John Parkson and Arnold Parkson. 14:33.840 --> 14:35.840 The third man was Harold Young. 14:35.840 --> 14:39.840 All three listed their occupations as part-time laborers, unemployed. 14:39.840 --> 14:41.840 All three had records. 14:41.840 --> 14:44.840 Vagrancy, disorderly conduct, petty theft. 14:44.840 --> 14:46.840 We questioned Harold Young first. 14:46.840 --> 14:48.840 [♪ music playing in background throughout the video. 14:48.840 --> 14:50.840 Then Arnold Parkson. 14:50.840 --> 14:51.840 They both had alibis. 14:51.840 --> 14:52.840 Their stories made sense. 14:52.840 --> 14:55.840 No conflicting statements. 14:55.840 --> 14:57.840 We interrogated the other Parkson brother, John. 14:57.840 --> 14:58.840 Same result. 14:58.840 --> 15:00.840 Well, it could have been, yeah. 15:00.840 --> 15:02.840 That trunk of Thelma's was kind of a gag around town. 15:02.840 --> 15:03.840 You know. 15:03.840 --> 15:04.840 We act about it a lot. 15:04.840 --> 15:06.840 Everybody kidded about it. 15:06.840 --> 15:07.840 We even used to rib Thelma. 15:07.840 --> 15:09.840 Tell her we're going to break in it some night. 15:09.840 --> 15:10.840 Find all the loot she had put away. 15:10.840 --> 15:11.840 Just a gag. 15:11.840 --> 15:13.840 I'm going to tell you something. 15:13.840 --> 15:14.840 We told this to the other two. 15:14.840 --> 15:16.840 We got an idea it was more than a gag in the case of you three. 15:16.840 --> 15:17.840 We've got evidence to back that up. 15:17.840 --> 15:20.840 If you want to add anything more to your story, now's the time to do it, fella. 15:20.840 --> 15:22.840 I don't think I'm getting the pitch right, Sergeant. 15:22.840 --> 15:23.840 I told you everything. 15:23.840 --> 15:25.840 I don't know what kind of evidence you've got, but I'm clean. 15:25.840 --> 15:26.840 I know that much. 15:26.840 --> 15:29.840 Maybe I booze it up some, but I don't run with heavies. 15:29.840 --> 15:30.840 Murder's way out of my line. 15:30.840 --> 15:31.840 That's your story, huh? 15:31.840 --> 15:32.840 What else can I tell you? 15:32.840 --> 15:38.840 Sure. 15:38.840 --> 15:40.840 Yeah, any luck? 15:40.840 --> 15:41.840 Same as the other two. Nothing. 15:41.840 --> 15:43.840 We got it all down pat. 15:43.840 --> 15:44.840 That's a good idea. 15:44.840 --> 15:46.840 What do you think, Colonel? 15:46.840 --> 15:47.840 Well, let's let them wait around for a while. 15:47.840 --> 15:48.840 We might get something out of them. 15:48.840 --> 15:51.840 Just thinking if we can get a bug in one of the officers, it might get something. 15:51.840 --> 15:52.840 Maybe. 15:52.840 --> 15:53.840 It's a long way around. 15:53.840 --> 15:54.840 Well, there's nothing much else we can do. 15:54.840 --> 15:55.840 Think there's a chance? 15:55.840 --> 15:56.840 It's a small one. 15:56.840 --> 16:00.840 Let's don't count too much on it. 16:00.840 --> 16:04.840 We checked with Captain Warman's office and we got permission to have the office bugged. 16:04.840 --> 16:07.840 We put in a call to the crime lab and asked them to install listening equipment in the 16:07.840 --> 16:09.840 captain's office as soon as possible. 16:09.840 --> 16:14.840 They told us that they'd have the sound crew go to work on it immediately. 16:14.840 --> 16:18.840 Under the pretext of further questioning, Sergeant Jack Gotch and Frank took the suspects 16:18.840 --> 16:22.840 down the hall to the interrogation room where they would be held until the sound men could 16:22.840 --> 16:45.840 finish rigging up the equipment. 16:45.840 --> 17:10.840 The listening equipment was installed in such a way that we would be able to hear the conversation 17:10.840 --> 17:12.840 in any part of the captain's office. 17:12.840 --> 17:16.840 Recording equipment and two sets of earphones were set up in the locker section off the 17:16.840 --> 17:21.840 squad room so that we could monitor the conversation between the two suspects. 17:21.840 --> 17:25.840 First, we had the two Parkson brothers, John and Arnold, placed alone in the captain's 17:25.840 --> 17:26.840 office. 17:26.840 --> 17:28.840 We listened to them talk between themselves for half an hour. 17:28.840 --> 17:32.840 They didn't say so directly, but we caught inferences that each brother doubted the other's 17:32.840 --> 17:35.840 innocence of the Thelma Porter killing. 17:35.840 --> 17:40.840 At 1.30 that afternoon, we took Arnold Parkson from the captain's office and had Harold Young 17:40.840 --> 17:44.840 take his place. 17:44.840 --> 17:46.840 The cops will be feeding us again. 17:46.840 --> 17:48.840 I think I'll tell them off when they come in here. 17:48.840 --> 17:50.840 Keep us waiting like this. 17:50.840 --> 17:52.840 Yeah, you'll tell them off. 17:52.840 --> 17:57.840 I'll keep us waiting much longer than I will. 17:57.840 --> 18:01.840 Will you stop using that comb? 18:01.840 --> 18:02.840 You know any lawyer? 18:02.840 --> 18:04.840 I would get out of here in a hurry with a lawyer. 18:04.840 --> 18:05.840 It costs money. 18:05.840 --> 18:07.840 We don't need one. 18:07.840 --> 18:10.840 Just hope you're sure about it here, eh? 18:10.840 --> 18:11.840 I what? 18:11.840 --> 18:12.840 You're not mixed up in it. 18:12.840 --> 18:14.840 It's a killing. 18:14.840 --> 18:15.840 What do you mean, am I sure of it? 18:15.840 --> 18:16.840 I told you. 18:16.840 --> 18:18.840 Just be sure that's all. 18:18.840 --> 18:20.840 I don't want any part of it if you are. 18:20.840 --> 18:22.840 Yeah, well, you be sure too. 18:22.840 --> 18:25.840 You and your brother, you always look at me when something happens. 18:25.840 --> 18:27.840 Dog will save me and my brother. 18:27.840 --> 18:28.840 We've never been in any heavy stuff. 18:28.840 --> 18:29.840 Killings? 18:29.840 --> 18:30.840 No part of it. 18:30.840 --> 18:31.840 Listen, I'm going to tell you something. 18:31.840 --> 18:33.840 We shouldn't be talking about killings in here. 18:33.840 --> 18:34.840 Why not? 18:34.840 --> 18:35.840 Sometimes the cops wire these rooms. 18:35.840 --> 18:36.840 Oh, you're out of your mind. 18:36.840 --> 18:37.840 You've been reading too much fiction. 18:37.840 --> 18:38.840 Yes, they do. 18:38.840 --> 18:39.840 They can hear everything you say. 18:39.840 --> 18:40.840 They don't have time to wire anything. 18:40.840 --> 18:41.840 I've been here all day. 18:41.840 --> 18:42.840 I'm going to look around. 18:42.840 --> 18:43.840 I'm taking no chances. 18:43.840 --> 18:44.840 I don't want to get involved in anything. 18:44.840 --> 18:56.840 Sometimes they hide the mic in files or any place you can't see it. 18:56.840 --> 18:59.840 You're crazy. 18:59.840 --> 19:02.840 I'm not taking any chances. 19:02.840 --> 19:03.840 I might check everywhere. 19:03.840 --> 19:06.840 Sometimes they put them on the chairs. 19:06.840 --> 19:08.840 What do they do, broadcast it? 19:08.840 --> 19:09.840 Where's the wire? 19:09.840 --> 19:11.840 They hide the mic on the edge of a desk. 19:11.840 --> 19:12.840 I heard of that too. 19:12.840 --> 19:13.840 Let's see. 19:13.840 --> 19:14.840 I better get in there. 19:14.840 --> 19:15.840 What are you doing there? 19:15.840 --> 19:16.840 I could hear you clearing the other office, going through the files. 19:16.840 --> 19:17.840 I thought I told you to stay put in that chair. 19:17.840 --> 19:18.840 Yes, sir. 19:18.840 --> 19:19.840 Why aren't you there? 19:19.840 --> 19:20.840 Sit down. 19:20.840 --> 19:21.840 If I'd have wanted you to plow the office I'd have told you. 19:21.840 --> 19:34.840 Now both of you, stay put in those chairs, you understand? 19:34.840 --> 19:55.840 Pretty close, huh? 19:55.840 --> 20:04.840 Yeah. 20:04.840 --> 20:09.840 You got any more peanuts? 20:09.840 --> 20:11.840 No, you ate most of them. 20:11.840 --> 20:12.840 What do you want on a meal? 20:12.840 --> 20:13.840 I'm getting hungry. 20:13.840 --> 20:18.840 You know, I think I'll hit the road when we get out of here. 20:18.840 --> 20:20.840 L.A. is no good this time of year. 20:20.840 --> 20:21.840 The valley is better up around Fresno. 20:21.840 --> 20:22.840 You'll have to go alone if you go. 20:22.840 --> 20:23.840 Fresno's nothing. 20:23.840 --> 20:24.840 I'm staying here. 20:24.840 --> 20:25.840 Nobody asked you to come. 20:25.840 --> 20:26.840 I don't think I like this Portland deal anyway. 20:26.840 --> 20:27.840 I like to travel alone, just me and nobody else. 20:27.840 --> 20:28.840 What's the matter? 20:28.840 --> 20:29.840 You think you got a raw deal? 20:29.840 --> 20:30.840 We made out, ain't we? 20:30.840 --> 20:31.840 Sure, sure, we made out. 20:31.840 --> 20:32.840 I just want to go to the valley, that's all. 20:32.840 --> 20:33.840 All this cop trouble, I don't like it. 20:33.840 --> 20:34.840 Maybe you think I do. 20:34.840 --> 20:35.840 They talked me over more than they did you. 20:35.840 --> 20:36.840 Yeah, well, I don't care. 20:36.840 --> 20:37.840 I don't like it. 20:37.840 --> 20:38.840 I'm getting out of here. 20:38.840 --> 20:39.840 What's the pitch here, eh? 20:39.840 --> 20:40.840 You got nothing to cover up for, have you? 20:40.840 --> 20:41.840 What do you mean, come on? 20:41.840 --> 20:42.840 I'm not going to sit here and watch you die. 20:42.840 --> 20:43.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 20:43.840 --> 20:44.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 20:44.840 --> 20:54.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 20:54.840 --> 21:02.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 21:02.840 --> 21:11.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 21:11.840 --> 21:21.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 21:21.840 --> 21:31.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 21:31.840 --> 21:41.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 21:41.840 --> 21:51.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 21:51.840 --> 22:01.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 22:01.840 --> 22:11.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 22:11.840 --> 22:21.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 22:21.840 --> 22:31.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 22:31.840 --> 22:41.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 22:41.840 --> 22:51.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 22:51.840 --> 23:01.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 23:01.840 --> 23:11.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 23:11.840 --> 23:21.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 23:21.840 --> 23:31.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 23:31.840 --> 23:41.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 23:41.840 --> 23:51.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 23:51.840 --> 24:01.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 24:01.840 --> 24:11.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 24:11.840 --> 24:21.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 24:21.840 --> 24:31.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 24:31.840 --> 24:41.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 24:41.840 --> 24:51.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 24:51.840 --> 25:01.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 25:01.840 --> 25:11.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 25:11.840 --> 25:21.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 25:21.840 --> 25:31.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 25:31.840 --> 25:41.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 25:41.840 --> 25:51.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 25:51.840 --> 26:01.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 26:01.840 --> 26:25.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 26:31.840 --> 26:41.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die. 26:41.840 --> 26:51.840 I'm going to sit here and watch you die.